Nuhodi's Spear (1)
After the ski trip, nothing out of the ordinary happened. The days simply went on, quiet and ordinary.
Since that day, my sister no longer fussed over every little thing or tried to look after me the way she once had. Even so, she didn't avoid me, and she didn't run. She smiled, and she began to treat me with care.
And somehow—I couldn't have said why—she had grown even closer with my lovers, the three young ladies, Yeongeun among them. Watching them together, they looked so much like true blood sisters that I found myself a little dazed.
Once, she brought out the photo albums along with a camera and a camcorder, spread them wide in front of my lovers, and launched into my past between laughs and chatter.
"So this is the photo from when Seoha started elementary school."
"Aaah! Seoha, you were so cute!"
"He really was adorable back then. He'd go Noona~ noona~ and turn on the charm, playing cute like it was nothing."
"Haah—just imagining it makes me dizzy!"
Strange. She and Yeongeun seemed to have gotten far too close. Not long ago she had treated her like some middle-aged neighbor she only vaguely knew, and now the air between them was that of friends from next door. My sister had changed in other ways too. Looking at her now was enough to see it.
It was Saturday, two in the afternoon. By her old pattern, this was the hour she ought to have been buried under a mountain of paperwork in her own office—but in her place, Yoo Chae-rin was sorting documents with dark circles sunk beneath her eyes. She had concentrated her recovery ability into her fingertips and was rubbing hard under her eyes as she classified the papers, and the sight was pitiful enough that even I felt sorry for her. I sipped a cocoa that looked like coffee, watching the women, and the talk turned to my sister's recent affairs.
"Is that true? That gentle soul from Cheonggung actually said something like that to you?"
"Of course. You have no idea how he clung and pestered me, going on about how he wanted to scout me for Cheonggung. And his other intentions were so plain to see that it actually made me angry."
"Other intentions? What kind?"
"It's embarrassing to say this about myself, but I am on the pretty side. It's what men always think."
"Ah~. I get it."
When had a conversation like that even taken place?
The boss of Cheonggung I'd seen at the refinery's opening ceremony had the mild face of a son from a strict, proper household. He hadn't looked like a man with any connection to schemes.
Well. Boss of the second-ranked raid team in the country—he'd have money, and ability, and he was a recovery-type, so he did meet about sixty percent of my sister's criteria for a boyfriend.
She used to think it had to be someone stronger than me. But honestly, considering the uncommon power in my blood, there was no way an ordinary human could be stronger than I was. And my sister herself was a powerful ability user, carrying two rare-type attributes...
More than that—set aside an irregular like me, and among pure humanity, wasn't my sister the strongest of all?
I was turning thoughts like that over when the conversation stopped, and my lovers and my sister all turned to look at me.
"......"
But why were they glaring so fiercely? From the moment the talk of the Cheonggung boss approaching her had started, my sister had been sneaking glances at me. Now she suddenly sharpened her eyes and fixed me with a glare—and then, just as suddenly, pitched a fit.
"Why are you glaring?"
"I wasn't glaring."
"You're glaring at me right now!"
"I said I'm not looking! Maybe I ought to put a Healing Touch on those eyes of yours?"
My eyes were perfectly fine. Dumbfounded, I went on squishing Darky, who had precisely the same softness as Yeongeun's breasts, and caught Franc and Yeongeun wearing wry smiles. Seriously, what was wrong with them?
My sister kept glaring. That narrowing of the eyes—that was glaring, wasn't it? The bewilderment was settling in deeper when, with perfect timing, a text arrived from Hwayeon.
The classified armory? The place where Nuhodi's spear was kept?
"I'm going to go see Hwayeon for a bit."
"Did something happen?"
"Not sure. Hwayeon asked me to come for a moment. Anyway, I'll be back."
My sister kept glaring until I escaped the spot with Space Leaping.
I really couldn't tell why she was like that.
The classified armory stood in Business Support Building 2, the rightmost of Grand Blue's four buildings. They had emptied an entire floor there to store weapons that couldn't be sold, and built the walls out of every kind of defensive material they had.
For now only Nuhodi's spear stood in that room, but anything excavated from here on that would be difficult to dispose of was meant to be piled up there—or later entrusted to Chief Researcher Oh Soeun for separate study. I couldn't see why Hwayeon was calling me to a place like that.
I used Space Leaping to come up behind her, where she stood at the armory entrance. Whatever she was thinking, she didn't notice I'd arrived. She simply stood there with her arms crossed.
"...Hello?"
"Kyah?!"
I tossed the word at her back, and she startled hard, snapping into a combat stance for an instant. Then, confirming it was me who had spoken, she dropped the stance and let out a deep sigh.
"You gave me a fright."
"Heh heh heh. 'Kyah?!' That was cute."
"...Do not tease me."
Hwayeon wore the look of a mother faced with a prankster beyond saving. Then she took my hand, slotted an authentication key into the lock at the armory entrance, and opened the door to go in.
In the center of a stark white chamber of nearly five thousand square feet, Nuhodi's spear stood alone. The moment we entered, it began to thrum, the shaft singing.
Puru? Pururu?
At the sound of the spear's cry, Darky—perched on my shoulder—rippled, leapt down, and rolled toward it.
Wuum... wuum-wuum. Puru! A wobble, a wobble, puru. Wuum! Churr? Pururu! Wuum...
"...From where I'm standing, those two look like they're having a conversation. What do you think, Hwayeon?"
"It looks the same to my eyes. If Darky can speak with Nuhodi's spear, then perhaps Hiarid could converse with it as well."
Watching Darky, who somehow looked delighted, and Nuhodi's spear trembling along its shaft, I thought that if this went well, we might actually be able to use her.
I had learned as much when I peeked into her memories. Nuhodi's spear was extraordinarily sturdy, and the edge of that cross-blade was no laughing matter. On top of that, despite being sunk underwater for so long, there wasn't a single marred spot on it. Even at a glance, it was plainly a unique-grade weapon.
If we could put it to use, the advantages would be too many to count.
"If we can communicate, we might soothe Nuhodi, grant her what she wants, and actually wield her. But why did you ask me to meet you here?"
"Mm. For that very reason."
"That reason... because you want to use Nuhodi's spear?"
Hwayeon set a hand on her hip, looked at Darky and the spear, and spoke.
"As you know, high-class body enhancers hardly use weapons at all. Most weapons cannot withstand the user's strength, and they shatter almost at once."
I hadn't known that. Without letting it show, I put on a serious face and asked her.
"So you're thinking that if it's Nuhodi's spear—still gleaming like new after all that time underwater—then it might actually hold?"
"Yes. And that blade, bearing a sharpness out of the ordinary, settles my heart. That is why I called you. I want your help, so that I may use Nuhodi's spear."
I nodded, watching the two of them churr and thrum at each other.
"All right. Let's try it. For that, we'll need to bring Hiarid first."
"I am counting on you."
"Darky! Get over here."
Puru!
I called to Darky, still in the middle of conversing with the spear, and it tumbled over to my feet. I picked it up and asked.
"You were talking with Nuhodi's spear just now, right?"
Puru!
It drew two tentacles out of its body and shaped them into a circle for me to see. So it really had been talking with the spear.
When I drew close, the shaft began to tremble with a hum. I reached out, stroked it once, and led Hwayeon back out of the armory.
"I'm going to fetch Hiarid, so don't go in. Wait here."
"Understood."
I watched Hwayeon nod, then immediately chained Space Leaps one after another and came out beside Hiarid, down in the basement of Uihan University's affiliated laboratory, where they were checking her language patterns and the movement of her Phase Power.
"Wah! Ch-Chairman!"
The man who was supposedly a year Altina's junior took one look at me appearing beside Hiarid and toppled over backward in shock.
I glanced around, but Altina was nowhere to be seen. I offered the researcher a hand, helped him up, and asked.
"I don't see Miss Altina."
"Ah, yes. She said she needed research materials and went to the temporary Ability User Alliance in Gangdong District."
"Is that so? I'd like to take Hiarid with me right now. Would that be all right?"
The man in the lab coat stood, brushing off his clothes, then spotted Darky on my shoulder and couldn't tear his eyes away as he answered.
"Ah... If the Chairman needs her and must take her, then of course we should let her go."
His name tag read Senior Researcher Mac Hamilton. It seemed he was the one in charge of the lab when Altina was away.
Mac Hamilton clapped his hands, drew the researchers' attention, and spoke.
"All right, you heard him. The Chairman needs to take Miss Hiarid, so let us wrap up for today."
At once two female researchers clustered around Hiarid and began removing the electrodes and Phase Power checkers attached to her body. Even then they kept stealing glances at Darky swaying on my shoulder. Doctors of aberrant biology, sure enough—endlessly curious about it.
If I brought Darky around later, when Altina was here, she might well beg me to let her study it.
Just then Darky rippled on my shoulder.
Puru-puru!
=It is all right.=
Puru?
=It is merely an experiment in communication.=
It must have wondered whether the electrodes and wires on Hiarid's body were something harmful. Hiarid smiled faintly, gave a small shake of her head, and spoke—and Mac Hamilton, standing beside me, stared at her in open shock.
"Uh—uh, uh. A-are you conversing with the Dark Matter Slime right now?"
=That is correct.=
Would Newton have worn a face like this man's, the moment he saw the apple fall? At Hiarid's answer, Mac Hamilton's expression changed, and he began to mutter like someone bewitched.
"I see. If we consider the differences in emotional intelligence and relational disposition, the pluralistic, consensus, protective, and permissive types—influenced by empathy and emotional regulation according to emotional recognition—produce a subdivision of Phase Power, such that independence, the sympathetic, and the pluralistic type are applied to communication, and the switching of synapses within the brain..."
I stared blankly at Mac Hamilton, gone into a world of his own, then looked to the other researchers.
"Senior Hamilton does this from time to time."
They added that if I left him alone he would come back to himself, and set about organizing and tending the equipment.
It looked as if he were having some kind of revelation. Maybe the research would have moved forward by the next time I came. Either way, Hwayeon would be waiting, and I needed to get back.
I left the muttering man to his trance, wrapped an arm around Hiarid's waist, and unfolded Space Leaping once more. When we returned to the classified armory, Hwayeon turned to me with expectation bright on her face.
"You are back."
"Yeah."
We went inside again, and Hiarid turned her gaze to the spear, which had begun to tremble and thrum, a flicker of interest crossing her face.
Best to introduce them first. I pointed at Nuhodi's spear and spoke to Hiarid.
"A woman's soul dwells in that spear. Her name is Nuhodi. And this winged one is Hiarid. This slime is Darky."
Wuum-wuum.
=It is a pleasure to meet you, Nuhodi.=
When the shaft cried out, Hiarid returned to her usual expressionless face and inclined her head slightly.
"You can understand what Nuhodi's spear is saying, right?"
=That is correct.=
"Good. This time as well, stay beside me and translate what Nuhodi says."
=I shall do so.=
For an instant I wished Hiarid, who answered only in short replies, would speak a little more warmly. Then I gave a small shake of my head.
"It's been a while, Nuhodi. Have you been well these three months?"
Wuuuuum...
I spoke while gently stroking the shaft, and it hummed with a shyness somehow like a new bride's. Hiarid stared at the spear, tilted her head slightly, and slowly opened her mouth.
=She says she has not been well, and that she dislikes this sealed white space.=
Once Hiarid began to translate, Hwayeon listened at my side with a face full of curiosity.
"You dislike it? Because it feels like the basement where you were?"
Wuum.
=She says that is so.=
"I see... But you can manipulate other people's minds and carry out acts of destruction, so I can't place you somewhere open, where there are people."
Wuum! Wuum-wuum...
=...Heavenly Lord.=
"Huh?"
Nuhodi trembled the shaft and thrummed, but Hiarid did not translate. She hesitated, then called to me.
=The soul dwelling in the spear does not speak in precise words, as Darky does. She sends a kind of intent, and so I cannot convey an exact conversation.=
"If it isn't exact, then how close is it?"
=To the degree of knowing the approximate meaning.=
Mm. Because she wasn't an aberrant, or a living being? Even so, to understand the will of a soul dwelling in an inanimate object—that was remarkable.
"All right. It's fine. Tell me just as you understood it."
=Yes. Nuhodi says that at that time she was not in her right mind. She is apologizing. She says she is sorry.=
Hearing the translation, Hwayeon spoke from beside me in a regretful tone.
"If she was not in her right mind, then there may be a tendency for her to lose her reason and run wild again hereafter."
Wuum... wuuuuu...
The shaft's resonance felt somehow forlorn. I looked at Hiarid. She tilted her head slightly, thought for a moment, and opened her mouth.
=She swears upon Harnepios that she will never lose her mind again.=
Mm. Probably the name of some godlike being Nuhodi believed in.
"I don't know if we can trust that oath. We don't even know what Harnepios is. Anyway—do you remember how long you were trapped there?"
Wuuuuum.
=She says she remembers only that a long time passed.=
"This is a problem."
As Hwayeon had said, if she had lost her reason once, a second time was possible, and a third. I did not want to put a weapon this dangerous in Hwayeon's hands.
As if she had read the thought off my face, Nuhodi's spear began to ring in an urgent tone.
Wuum! Wuu-wuuuum~!
=She says that what allowed her to come to her senses was the Heavenly Lord's grace. And that, having come to her senses once, there will never again be any such thing as her losing her reason and running wild.=
"My grace?"
Wuum.
=Did the Heavenly Lord inject TP into her? She seems to be speaking of that.=
Ah. So that was it. Well, well—omnipotent as ever, Lord TP. She came to her senses because she ate TP? Did that even make sense? And yet Hwayeon was nodding as if it did!
Seeing that I showed no other particular reaction while I looked at Hwayeon, Nuhodi rang the spear again and pressed her will.
=Nuhodi clearly recognizes the position she is in. This world is not the place where she lived, so she will follow the laws of this place and fulfill her duty as a weapon. She asks that she not be left in a sealed place like this.=
"This place is wider and brighter than where you were confined. Isn't it comfortable enough, in its own way?"
Wuuuuum.
=She says she dislikes this feeling of being alone where nothing exists. She pleads that she wants to feel, once more, the warmth and the tenderness and the bustle of living beings.=
Even said like that, there was no way I could hand over my trust so easily.
"Wait a moment."
Deciding this wouldn't do, I told Nuhodi to wait, took Hwayeon and Hiarid by the hand, stepped outside the classified armory, and asked.
"What do you think? Can we trust her?"
=Nuhodi's consciousness was clear and lucid, and I sensed no falsehood.=
Hearing that, Hwayeon seemed to consider it for a moment. Then she met my eyes and answered, clear and firm.
"After I saw Nuhodi's spear, I made several preparations."
"Preparations?"
"I never intended to wield Nuhodi's spear with no countermeasure in place. When we first discovered her in the submerged ruins, she drew in a Vindictive Ghost and dominated it. In other words, she possesses an ability that exerts its power upon the mind. To defend against that attack, and to block it, I learned the public skills registered with the Alliance—Mental Attack Defense and Curse Resistance—and I have trained them up to now."
Had there been skills like that? I thought there had.
"And I have mastered T Resist to an expert level as well. Used together, the three skills can be maintained for three hours, so I will not absurdly turn berserker. And I will use Nuhodi only while you, Seoha, are at my side. I will not neglect my training."
I looked at Hwayeon, speaking so quietly, with startled eyes. So she had been preparing since the middle of August. Knowing her, she would not have prepared halfway.
The effort to grow stronger wasn't something only I had been making. Hwayeon had been making it too. Having gone this far, how was I supposed to refuse?
"All right. Let's try it."
"Mm! I will work hard."